All Nighter
by The-Shadow-Traveler
Summary: Nico has a nightmare and can't fall back asleep. Turns out, Leo can't sleep either. What happens when they find each other on the beach and get attacked? (I'm terrible at summaries. The story is much better. I promise.) Rated T for later chapters because I'm paranoid.
1. Chapter 1

This is something totally random that my mind just couldn't let go of. I know, they're probably pretty OOC, but that's just how it turned out. Also my first multi-chapter fanfic. Hope you guys like it!

**Warnings:** Slight spoilers for the HoO series.

**Word Count:** 1160

**Pairings:** Not really one unless you want to read between the lines and make it Leo/Nico (but that's completely your choice).

**DIsclaimer:** I sadly do not own the PJO or HoO series' or any of the characters.

* * *

Nico's eyes stung. The tears kept coming, no matter how hard he tried to stop them. Silent sobs racked his entire body. He couldn't keep himself from shaking.

The images… the visions from Tartarus were still haunting him. Months after the war against Gaea was won, weeks after there was peace between the two camps, the nightmares still came. Every night. Every time Nico closed his eyes. There they were.

He whimpered as another vision shot through his mind. He had to keep himself quiet, though. Hazel and Frank were visiting Camp Half Blood and Hazel was sleeping in his cabin. Nico looked at the clock on his nightstand. 4:09am.

Nico bit his lip. Quietly, careful not to interrupt his half sister's slumber, the son of Hades grabbed his sword and tip-toed out of the room and into the cool night air. He drew a deep, shuddering breath. He needed to clear his head, so he walked toward the beach.

The dark haired boy sat down at the shore and looked up at the nearly full moon, surrounded by millions of stars. He sighed. The Hunters of Artemis. That's what he thought of every time he saw the glowing orb in the sky. Then, of course, he'd think of Bianca.

'Wonderful,' Nico thought. 'More depression.'

A stick snapped somewhere behind the boy suddenly and he jumped up, whirled around, and drew his sword all in one swift movement. Then he realized that the deathly sharp Stygian Iron blade was at the throat of an innocent, unsuspecting camper.

"Woah, man. It's just me." There was genuine fear in his eyes, of course, that always happened with Nico. Even his friends were scared of him.

He pulled back, "Sorry, Leo." Nico turned and sat in the sand once more.

"It's all good," Leo replied, plopping down beside the slightly younger yet older boy. "Couldn't sleep?" he inquired.

"Nope," came Nico's reply.

"Nightmares?"

Nico sighed, then reluctantly said, "Yup."

Leo snorted, "Same."

Nico raised an eyebrow at him, "Really?"

Leo chuckled, albeit a bit sadly, "Yeah. Funny flame boy get's bad dreams too."

Nico shook his head, "I didn't mean it like that."

Leo shrugged, "It's alright."

There was a short silence with only the waves from the water and the growls of the monsters in the woods to break it.

"So…," Nico ventured. "What did you dream about?"

Leo's smile held a bit of sorrow this time. He took a handful of sand and watched it slip through his fingers as he said, "My mom."

"Oh." Nico knew all about Esperanza's death.… then again, he knew all about everyone's deaths. "Sorry."

"Don't be. It was pretty happy this time," Leo grinned as if this new occurrence was a treat.

"Well that's good." Nico gave a slight smile back.

"Yeah. It just didn't really end how I would've liked." A frown replaced Leo's grin.

"You shouldn't feel guilty about your mom's death," Nico blurted suddenly.

"Wait- how?" Leo was definitely caught off guard.

"I'm the Ghost King…." Nico said simply, "I know how everybody died." He paused to let that sink in. "Besides, I've spoken to Esperanza before. She's a really nice person."

"You've- you've talked to her?" Leo's voice was fragile now.

"Yes, she's in Elysium. She's happy and really proud of you… Your mom doesn't want you to feel guilty, Leo. She said that everything happens for a reason and that it was her time. Even if you didn't have those powers she just knows she would have died…"

There was another silence, this one much longer.

"Thanks, Nico." Leo looked at him intently. "I really needed to hear that."

Nico only nodded in reply.

"Well," Leo said after a moment, "What was your dream?"

There was a bit of terror in Nico's eyes as he remembered. He drew his knees to his chest and set his chin on them.

"Look," Leo began. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Nico shook his head. "It's okay," he said then took a deep breath. "I-I dreamt about Tartarus again."

"Again?" Leo asked; he sounded concerned.

Nico nodded once more.

"They're getting worse." Tears stung his eyes again but he refused to let them fall this time.

"What do you mean…?" Leo's question hung in the air for a moment.

"I… I can't really describe it, Leo. They just—" he shuddered. "I don't know. I just…" his voice trailed off, then he sighed, shaking his head.

"But Percy and Annabeth were in Tartarus after you. Why aren't they getting nightmares too?" Leo wondered.

"They do get nightmares… they just don't happen nearly as often and they aren't as bad as mine."

"How do you know that they aren't as bad?"

Nico paused for a moment as if mulling it over then looked Leo straight in the eyes and said, "They can actually describe what they see, Leo... If I tried, I-I…" he took another shaky breath and looked away, "I might go insane… I almost did when I was there." A few tears slipped his eyes and he hastily wiped them away.

Leo pretended not to notice and thought about what his friend said. "Why do you think they don't get the nightmares, though?"

Nico looked out at the shimmering waves, his red and watery eyes distant. "Believe it or not, Tartarus is a living thing—the pit I mean—it knows that Hades is the main god keeping it in check. Tartarus hates my father for that, therefore it most likely gave me the worst things it could conjure up. It still sends me fresh visions all the time." He paused again. "It doesn't do that to Annabeth and Percy, they only have the memories. Besides, they didn't have to face it alone."

Leo stared back at him, dumbfounded, "I never thought about it like that. You do a good job of acting like nothing's ever wrong, though. And believe me, that's a compliment."

Nico snorted, "Same to you."

Leo didn't expect that answer, then did something unexpected himself.

He laughed hysterically.

Nico couldn't help himself, he laughed too.

The two boys wound up falling against each other for support as they tried to stop their hilarity.

"Why—are we—laughing?!" Nico asked between gasps of air.

"I—I don't know!" Leo replied.

Finally, after a good five minutes, the two of them regained their composure.

Leo leaned back on his hands, "We should probably get back to our cabins."

"Yeah," Nico agreed. "Chiron'll kill us if—"

He was cut off by loud, vicious screeches from up above. Both boys were scared witless and Leo's hands caught fire, superheating the sand under them and turning it to glass.

"Harpies!" They yelled at the same time.

* * *

Why did they laugh? It's been proven that emotionally drained people find little things funnier and also find it hard to control their laughter. That's why.

I don't really know what else to say about this. Not my best work, but I don't think it's _too_ bad...

R&amp;R. Let me know what you think!

_-The Shadow Traveler_


	2. Chapter 2

Aaaaand, I'm back! Here is the next chapter to All Nighter.

**Warnings:** Slight spoilers for HoO.

**Word Count:** 1269

**Pairings:** None unless you read between the lines and make it Leo/Nico (but that's completely your choice.)

**Disclaimer:** I sadly do not own the PJO or HoO series' or any of the characters.

* * *

Both boys rolled out of the way just in time for one of the harpies to slash the ground where they had been sitting. Nico drew his sword and cut it in half, turning it to dust. Leo tried to shoot fireballs at another, but it didn't react. He dodged to keep it from slicing at him. "What the hell!?" he yelped.

"They're immune to fire." Nico deadpanned as he lunged forward and cut the harpy down. "Don't you have a sword?"

One of the monsters shrieked and fled the scene before it shared the same fate as its sisters.

"Do I really look like a sword kind of person to you?" Leo asked sarcastically.

Nico rolled his eyes as another swooped down at him, but this time he could only stab its side and the beast continued attacking. Its blood splattered on his clothes and face. The harpy knocked Nico down and pinned him to the ground, causing his sword to fly from his hand. It clawed at him and he turned to block it with his right arm.

"Nico!" Leo yelled. He summoned the biggest hammer he could from his tool belt and ran over. He brought the hammer down right onto the harpy's head and it disintegrated immediately.

The yellow dust fell quietly over the two young warriors for a minute.

"You okay?" Leo panted, helping the boy up.

"Yeah, thanks," Nico replied.

"No problem."

The two looked around for any more monsters, but there were none.

It was silent for a moment, save the sound of waves lapping up onto the shore, before Leo spoke, "That. Was. Awesome!"

Nico grinned weakly, "Yeah."

Leo lifted his arm for a high-five and Nico obliged. Leo noticed that his friend had used his left hand, but Hades's son was right handed. He peered at Nico in the moonlight.

"Let me see your arm," Leo demanded.

Nico turned away, "I'm fine."

"Obviously not." He reached out and took Nico's hand in his own and pulled it forward to get a better angle. The son of Hades grimaced.

Nico hissed in pain as Leo stripped the aviators jacket off of his shoulder. He summoned a small flame to see Nico's arm better, and it wasn't a pretty sight. There were three deep slashes that were smoking from the poison of the the harpy's claws. The toxins were eating away at Nico's skin at an impossibly fast pace and mixed with the blood that dripped into the sand at their feet. The redness was a stark contrast to Nico's alabaster skin.

"We need to get Chiron, now!" Leo exclaimed.

"No! We'll get in so much trouble for being out. Besides, i-it's not even that bad…" Nico trailed off. He winced when Leo tried to touch his arm.

"Yeah, not that bad at all." Leo said sarcastically. "Why are you so scared of getting caught, anyway?" He was incredulous.

"Look. This would be my fifth time getting caught. Chiron'll put me on lockdown. I won't be able to leave until I'm twenty! I can't do that! It'd drive me crazy!"

"Well, we have to do something!"

Nico thought for a moment before saying, "Do you think you could sneak past Argus in the infirmary?"

"I can try, I guess."

"Okay... Then just get some bandages and nectar from there. I can patch myself up if you can do that."

Leo scoffed, "Yeah, 'cause I'm really gonna leave you to do it alone." He picked up Nico's sword and put it in its scabbard for him. "Come on." He pulled him towards the woods.

Nico shrugged off his jacket the rest of the way and left it in a heap in the sand before following Leo. "Where are we going?" Nico asked.

"Bunker Nine… unless you want to go back to your cabin and do this, most likely waking Hazel who would then go on to get Frank because she thinks that he can do anything even though the big guy probably has no idea what he's doing half the time.…" Leo said all of this in one breath with a lot of obvious resentment towards 'the big guy.'

Despite the pain in his arm, Nico chuckled. "You really like Hazel, don't you?"

Leo was almost flustered at this, "Wha–? No!… not really… I mean, I don't know... Okay… yes."

At this point, Nico flat out laughed at Leo.

"Hey! It's not funny!" Leo exclaimed.

"C'mon! You know it kind of is. Especially when you go on mini rants like that." Nico tried to stop laughing, but failed miserably. "I really hope you don't do that with everybody."

"Nope." Leo retorted. "You're just special."

Nico chuckled once more.

"You can't tell anybody, though." Leo said out of nowhere. "Everyone thinks that I fall in love with every girl I see so they can't tell that I really like her. I want it to stay that way."

Nico stumbled on a tree root and Leo caught his arm.

"Ow!" Nico complained.

"Sorry! It was either that or you fall on it and hurt it even more."

"Yeah, yeah." Nico grumbled. "Anyway, I think you two would be good together. Frank is too shy for her. She's timid enough on her own."

"Okay, sure. But either way, she has Frank and if I even walk past her, he gives me a look like he's gonna murder me."

"Yeah, but you never know. Stranger things have happened," Nico stated cryptically.

"Since when did you become Delphi?" Leo asked.

Nico laughed again. Leo loved the fact that he could make his friend laugh, especially since he rarely even cracked a smile.

They finally made it to the bunker and Leo thrust his hand into the rock, sending lines of fire all along the cliff.

The giant slab of stone swung open, revealing rows of filled work tables, a bunch of construction equipment, and a ceiling so high, you couldn't even see it.

Nico whistled, "This place never ceases to amaze me."

"Yeah, it does that." Leo led Nico to a row of sinks at the far wall, letting the 'door' close behind them. He turned on the bright lights, which hurt Nico's eyes but didn't seem to bother Leo at all, and gestured for Nico to get closer. Nico did so and stood beside one of the sinks. Leo took his arm and held it over the drain, then grabbed a sprayer in his free hand. "This is going to hurt," he warned, and sprayed warm, clean water onto Nico's arm.

Nico cried out in pain and grit his teeth as the water filled the gashes on his arm. Leo stopped spraying and carefully turned Nico's arm over to let the water drain from it, then repeated the process two more times.

He then proceeded to take a clean washcloth and dab the extra water and blood from his friend's wounds. Now that the poison was gone, it couldn't eat away at Nico's arm, but what it had gotten was very, very bad.

"Oh my gods." Leo mumbled. In some spots on Nico's arm, you could see clear to the bone.

"Well that's not good." Nico muttered.

"Ya don't say?" Leo made a makeshift bandage out of other clean rags he found and wrapped Nico's arm in it to slow the bleeding. "I'm gonna go to the infirmary now. Just stay put and I'll be back in, like, fifteen minutes." He began walking away after Nico nodded. "And don't try to shadow-travel anywhere either!" He yelled over his shoulder. Leo heard Nico say something that was probably not very nice, but he chose to ignore it.

* * *

Slight little cliffy, I guess. As always, let me know what you think! Feedback is important to my creative processes!

R&amp;R.

_-The Shadow Traveler_


	3. Chapter 3

Alright people, here's the last chapter of All Nighter.

**Warnings:** Slight spoilers for the HoO series.

**Word Count:** 1533

**Pairings:** None unless you feel like reading between the lines and making it Leico. Otherwise, this is friendship.

**Disclaimer:** Sadly, I do not own the PJO or HoO series' or any of the characters.

* * *

Walking through monster infested woods alone at night—no problem.

Sneaking past the Big House and a few cabins—easy peasy.

Breaking into the camp infirmary through a hundred-eyed security guard who pretty much never sleeps—… this could cause some complications.

Leo decided to creep up to the window and peered into it. Sure enough, there was Argus, pacing around the front parlor of the small building. All Leo had to do was get past the back wall of the parlor, separating it from the rest of the sick-house, and he'd be golden. His only obstacle was the humanoid in front of him.

Leo needed a distraction. He remembered the Stoll brothers telling him how they used to play tricks on Argus. They'd make a loud noise or some kind of explosion and the hundred eyed camper would have to patrol all of the grounds until he was sure it was safe. Apparently this had gotten boring to them so they stopped a few months ago, but it couldn't be a more perfect strategy for Leo right then.

The son of Hephaestus considered some possible explosives that he could take from his tool belt.

Stick of dynamite?— too cliché.

Fireworks?—nah, had to be on the ground.

Grenade?— awesome, but too war-like. 'Come on,' Leo thought. 'We just finished a stinking war that I started. I don't need to start another.'

"Okay, Valdez, think!" he murmured.

Then it came to him. He could shoot a firecracker at the ground right outside the woods. There would be a loud noise but he wouldn't hurt any nymphs. "Perfect!" he exclaimed quietly.

So, Leo summoned a small firecracker and lit it. He carefully aimed it a few feet outside the tree line. There was a loud BOOM and a flash of light. Leo had no time to admire his handiwork though. He dove into the bushes just in time to hide from Argus, who burst out of the infirmary and into the night to put out Leo's small fire. He had at least ten minutes to get all of his supplies.

Leo burst into the sick bay and through the doors of the back wall. He must've been extremely lucky because there were no patients at all that night.

The Latino began rummaging through everything. He found the bandages in the bottom drawer of a long desk and stuck them in his tool belt. He decided he'd get some ambrosia too.

The nectar and ambrosia were easy to find, but hard for Leo to reach.

They were on the freaking highest shelf in the room!

Leo carried a chair over to where he needed it and climbed up. He could barely reach what he needed and went onto his tip-toes but, of course, wound up losing his balance. He grabbed the shelf to try and right himself and only managed to pull it down with him with a loud crash.

Vials of nectar broke and ambrosia got everywhere.

"Styx!" Leo cried.

He looked around and found two unbroken bottles of nectar. He took them along with the surviving ambrosia and started toward the door. Just then, he heard Argus' heavy footsteps coming at him.

'Crap!' He thought.

Leo darted to the back of the infirmary and slammed open one of the windows. Putting the nectar and ambrosia into his tool belt, he jumped out the opening, not bothering to close it behind him.

He ran all the way back to Bunker Nine, not even stopping to look back when he heard a yell of fury come from Argus.

After a good three minutes of bounding through the trees, Leo made it back to the bunker. He ambled to a stop and stayed outside for a few minutes, catching his breath. Leo was so scared out of his mind that he didn't even notice the sky beginning to lighten above him.

Once he wasn't so red in the face, Leo opened the 'door' of the bunker and strode inside with a goofy grin.

"You're late," Nico stated.

"What are you talking about?"

Nico paused, obviously trying to keep a straight face. "One: you said you'd be here in fifteen minutes… it's been twenty five. And two: what the heck is all over you?"

"Oh... Heh, heh. I had a little trouble getting the supplies." He said sheepishly, pulling out the ambrosia, bandages, and nectar.

Leo hadn't realized it, but Nico was turned so that his arm was hidden. "Come on, lemme see it."

Nico sighed and turned, revealing that his arm had completely bled through the rags.

"Wonderful." Leo uttered ironically.

"Yep." Nico replied.

"Okay, let's get started."

Leo gently unwrapped Nico's arm to rinse it off again. The son of Hades tried hard not to wince and jerk away from his touch. He attempted not to show how much pain he was in, and did a pretty good job of it for a little bit, but once the water touched his arm he hissed from the ache.

Leo noticed other little tells that Nico's arm was hurting him a heck of a lot more than he wanted Leo to know. Like the small beads of sweat gathering on his forehead, or the fact that his jaw was set so hard. Also, his left hand was clenched against the arm of the chair he was sitting on like his life depended on it, turning his knuckles even whiter than they originally were; not to mention that his whole face was red, his entire body was tense, and his breathing was shallow.

"I'm almost done." Leo assured. He dabbed at Nico's wounds with a dry towel. He then took one of the vials of nectar and poured it over the younger boy's upper arm. Once that bottle was empty, Leo opened the second vial and poured it over Nico's forearm this time. Nico's flesh under his skin laced together until the bone was no longer visible, but the gashes were still pretty deep.

Nico relaxed noticeably and sighed as if the pain had receded considerably. "Thanks."

"Hey, what're friends for?" Leo dried Nico's arm off and wrapped it tightly in the gauze. After he finished that he took the ambrosia from his tool belt and gave him a couple squares.

"I hate this stuff," Nico grunted, taking it from his friend.

Leo shrugged, "I think it's good. It reminds me of the fruit tarts my mom made when I was really little. What's it taste like to you?"

"Exactly like the chocolate chip cookies Bianca used to make me. She always added cinnamon to them… I hate being reminded of it."

"…How come?"

"Because, it reminds me that I'll never see her again… she wanted to be reborn, Leo. Even after I die, I won't see her... I-I can't stand that." Nico looked Leo in the eye.

Leo had never noticed before that Nico's dark orbs looked completely shattered, like two black glass plates had been thrown to the ground. Now Leo wondered if the fall to Tartarus was what really broke Nico. Maybe it was just too many tragedies for the boy to handle. Whatever it was, though, Leo wished it was something he could fix… Just be able to tighten some screws or replace some gears, but he couldn't do that. But maybe, just maybe he could still help him.

"That's why I'm so protective of Hazel." Nico continued. "I can't lose another sister."

Leo had a feeling that Nico was telling him things that no one else had ever known. It felt good to know that Nico trusted him that much. And, admittedly, the two of them had grown rather close since Nico was rescued from the giants. They were best friends now and did a lot together.

Nico didn't participate in many camp activities, mainly because his father insisted that he train for combat in the Underworld, but he would help Leo with any projects that needed to be done. For not being a son of Hephaestus, Nico was really good with his hands.

"Well… if it counts for anything, I'm not going to let anything happen to either of you."

Nico's lips twitched into a small smile. "Thanks."

Leo nodded. "We should get back to our cabins now."

"Yeah," Nico agreed.

When they walked out of the bunker, the sun was already up.

"Hey, I just realized that we left your jacket at the beach." Leo said.

Nico shrugged. "I'll get it later. I have to get rid of it now anyway."

"Isn't that your favorite jacket though?"

Nico sighed. "I guess I'll just have to get a new one."

Leo nodded.

They weren't even halfway through the forest when the conch horn signaled breakfast. They looked at each other in terror.

"Have we really been out for three hours?" Nico asked.

"Apparently. Guess we pulled an all nighter," Leo replied casually.

"Um… aren't you a cabin counselor? Shouldn't you be in a hurry to get back?" The paler boy asked.

Leo's eyes widened. "Styx…" Then he burst off running through the trees. "See ya' later Neeks!" he yelled over his shoulder.

Nico cracked a smile and shook his head as he strolled on to camp.

* * *

This story is finished, but if sudden inspiration hits or if I get some good ideas from reviewers, I might continue.

Anyway, I hope you all liked my first multi-chap story! Expect more soon. If you have anything you want me to write, feel free to message me or leave a review with the prompt.

As always, R&amp;R. I love feedback!

Until my next story, I bid you adieu.

_-The Shadow Traveler_


End file.
